Renaissance 1430-1620 The Early Renaissance 1430-1495 The High Renaissance 1495-1520

Renaissance1430-1620

The Early Renaissance1430-1495

The High Renaissance1495-1520

Chronology

Early and High RenaissanceThe Early Renaissance Period: 1430 - 1495

• Took place during the 15th century in Italy, and was centered in Florence,

• Can be considered the period of youthful experimentation in the new Renaissance culture,

• Saw the emergence of a new source of patronage of the arts- the wealthy merchant class,

• Saw experimentation with mathematically derived formulae to achieve order and balance in architectural design,

and the invention of linear perspective to achieve depth and distance in painting,

• Is represented by the painter Tomasso Cassai (Masaccio) (1401-28), the sculptor Donatello, and the architect Brunelleschi.

The High Renaissance Period: 1495-1520

• Was centered in Rome in the early 16th century and was to last a mere 25 years,

• Is considered a period of maturity and strength, the high point of achievement in art and architecture, that was to influence artistic standards for the next four centuries,

• Saw a resurgence of patronage by the Church as Catholicism was revitalized,

• Is represented by the painter Leonardo da Vinci and the painter, sculptor and architect Michelangelo

"Renaissance" (rebirth)

The revival of interest in the aesthetic and philosophical ideals of Greek and Roman civilization that developed in the 15th century in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe in the 16th.

The middle class or merchant class became the new patrons of the arts.

The philosophy of Humanism: based on the Platonic notion of the opposition between:

• the ideal, spiritual side of man's nature - the mind• the carnal side - matter

Mind over matter achieved through:• exercise of discipline• application of rational thought

Age of ExperimentationHumanists began to observe the natural world in detail and in accurate depiction.

The Book of the Courtier – The “How to…” of the perfect Renaissance SocietyBy Baldassare Castiglione (started in 1508… published in 1528)

It addresses the constitution of a perfect courtier, and in its last installment, a perfect lady… considered one of the most important Renaissance works.

The “Family”• Father (head): absolute authority• Mother: bear children and run the household

Arranged marriages - The cassone [kuh-soh-nee] (pictured)

Capitalism – money was everything

ITALY

The powerful Florentine Medici family considered it a duty, as educated and visionary leaders, to build important monuments and embellish them with the finest art works.

Lorenzo di Medici - Lorenzo the Magnificent - was patron to artists and intellectuals whose work is still considered significant today. Examples:

• Donatello (sculptor, 1377-1446) • Brunelleschi (architect, ca. 1386-1466 )

THE NORTH: Germany, Spain, France and England

Late 15th century until the 1520s, the arts flourished in Austria and Germany under the Holy Roman Empire. German artists were among the first to be influenced by Italian Renaissance forms.

< Communion of SaintsBy Jan Van Eyck [(væn ˈaɪk)](c.1385-1441)

Atmospheric Perspective - Things in the distance appear fuzzier than things in the foreground due to particles in the air. Color and detail are not as sharp in the distance.

> CrucifixionBy Masaccio [muh-sah-chee-oh] (1427) Linear Perspective - Linear perspective is based on the observation that parallel lines will converge to a common vanishing point on the horizon line.  There are three types of linear perspective: One point, two point, and three point.  

Sebastiano Serlio (1475-1554)3 ideal backdrops:

Tragedy Comedy Pastoral

Verisimilitude: truth seeming

Linear Perspective

Italian Renaissance

Florence Cathedral (started 1296…completed 1436)15th century, artists and intellectuals began to search for some absolute standards by which to judge cultural activity.

Filippo Brunelleschi, The dome design of the Florence Cathedral utilized new engineering techniques and a scientific approach to construction problems. (1420)

Early Renaissance

Florence CathedralPointed Arch

Octagonal Drum

Oculus

< Dome interior fresco by Giorgio Vasari and Frederico Zuccari (1572-1579) depicts the Last Judgment.

Medici-Riccardi Palace (1444)The model for the great Italian town houses of the Renaissance.

Rusticated stone blocks: rough (rustic) facade

Loggia: gallery or porch-like space with one side open to the outside through column arcade.

The courtyard of the was once the home of Donatello's David,

a work that typifies the youthful experimentation of early Renaissance sculpture.

Cartouche: a rounded, convex surface, usually surrounded with carved ornamental scrollwork

Stringcourse: continuous horizontal band of moulding

Cornice: uppermost horizontal band of moulding (ornamental)

Mona Lisa (c. 1503) “La Gioconda”By Leonardo da Vinci

This figure of Francesco del Giocondo, dressed in the Florentine fashion of her day and seated in a visionary, mountainous landscape.

A remarkable instance of Leonardo's sfumato technique: the subtle and minute gradation of tone and color used to blur or veil the contours of a form in painting.

Chiaroscuro - "light and shade" or “light and dark“… referring to the modeling of volume by depicting light and shade and contrasting them boldly.

High Renaissance

St. Peter’s Basilica (1546-64)

Bisymmetrical: Vertical and horizontal are balanced

Michelangelo Buonarroti took up the challenge in 1546, retaining the Donato Bramante central plan but simplifying it into a single, unified interior with a dome.

St. Peter’s Basilica (1546-64)

The west end, a later addition by Carlo Maderna (1559-1629) bisymmetrical, the prominent central element being a pedimented porch, so often seen in Renaissance architecture.

France & England Renaissance

Chateau of Chenonceaux (1515)

Italian classical influence on French Renaissance architecture

Its plan and formal garden layout reflects the classical principles of regularity and symmetry.

The building is typically French in its retention of Gothic ideals, seen in the steeply gabled roof line and turrets.

England: Ockwells Manor (1465) Tudor Style

Wattle and Daub: a building technique employing wattles plastered with clay and mud.

Armorial Pattern: heraldry (coat of arms)

England: King’s College Chapel (1441-1515)

Architecture during the early part of the Tudor dynasty (1485-1603) never completely acknowledged the Italian classical principles that were filtering into the rest of Europe.

Perpendicular Gothic

Tudor Arch: a low, wide arch that often framed the oriel window (bay window)

Renaissance Furniture &Decoration

The Dream of St. Ursula (1490)Vittore Carpaccio

Delicacy of the Early Renaissance

Bull's eye pattern

Dado: the lower broad part of an interior wall

The Birth of the Virgin (1485-90)Domenico del Ghirlandaio

Intarsia: A decorative inlaid pattern in a surface, especially a mosaic worked in wood… a canthus leaf, amphoras (two-handled jar), shells, festoons (string or chain of flowers, ribbon, etc.) and garlands .

BUY THIS BOOK: Alexander Speltz's "The Styles of Ornament"

The simple Dante chair co-existed with the multiple-spoked "Savonarola" version. Girolamo Savonarola Italian reformer . (16th Century)

French Dining Table (16th Century)

Carved “skirting” with griffins or chimera (a mythological, fire-breathing monster, commonly represented with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail. )

Lamentation for Christ (1503) Albrecht Dürer

Albrecht Dürer (painter and engraver, 1471-1528) studied the work of his Italian contemporaries, publishing theoretical treatises on Renaissance problems of linear perspective and ideal human proportions.

ItalianRenaissance

DressItalian costume reflects both its proximity to the remnants of the glorious Roman past, and to the Byzantine Empire.

Italian costume silhouette remained consistent with the new art and architecture in its integration of classical ideas with the silhouettes of the Gothic period.

As the period progressed and fit became an important factor, new methods of closure were found. Button closures became an alternate to lacing.

The middle class bought their clothing ready made, and the trade in second-hand clothing was lively.

Costume stressed horizontality and simple, geometric forms over the complexity and excessive embellishment of the Gothic.

Costume lines reflected the natural silhouette, and tended toward broad horizontality, in contrast to the artificial silhouette created by tight fit, pointed shoes and hats, and the emphasis on vertical lines seen in the north.

Medici-Riccardi PalaceFresco (1460)

Italian textiles by this time were highly regulated by the Guilds, and were becoming renowned all over Europe for their quality and beauty of design.

Craftsmen in the silk industry emigrated to France, Flanders and Switzerland to establish industries there.

Discovery of the True CrossPiero Della Francesca (Italy 1460)

Doublet : waist-length or had a separate piece, a peplum or skirt, that reached below the hip.

The Italians preferred earth-tones over the bright, heraldic colors of the north.

The Legend of St. Ursula Vittore Carpaccio (Italy 1490)

Doublet (High Fashion) : V-necked opening, laced loosely across the linen camisia (shirt or tunic).

Sleeves were separate pieces, laced to the doublet shoulder, and slashed open to show the shirt.

Puffs of shirt fabric were drawn through the openings.

Revers [ri-veer]: lapels

Footed hose, which had a leather sole stitched to the fabric, are seen along with shoes.

Duck-billed Shoes (right)

The School of TagasteBenozzo Gozzoli (Italy 1464)

Jacket and Huke : a cape-like overgown

Note the hanging sleeves of the young boys.

The Healing of Tabitha (fresco)Masolino, Brancacci Chapel (Italy 1424)

Houppelande : most likely to be worn just to the knee

It had all manner of sleeve shapes, including wide, funnel-shaped sleeves, as seen at right, or an open hanging sleeve or slit "bagpipe" sleeve.

Cappucino: was a chaperon, or hood, wrapped around a cork form to produce a characteristic turban style

Round Pillboxes

High-Crowned Hat

Birth of St John the BaptistDomenico Ghirlandaio (Italy 1470)

Outer Gown: a V-shaped opening laced over the camisia. Sleeves slit vertically or small lashes.

Bianca Maria SforzaGiovanni Ambrogio de Predis (Italy 1493)

Ferroniere: A jewel held to the forehead by a chain worn by women in France and Italy in the 16th century to hide the marks of syphilis.

Young women dressed their hair in complex knots and braids, ornamented with jeweled chains and gold nets.

Matrons were seen with a variety of turbans and padded forms draped with veils.

Adimari Cassone(c. 1450)

Figures in a wedding processional, shows all manner of hat and turban shapes, and an elegant group wearing flowing houppelandes with trailing sleeves.

La Donna VelataRaphael (Italy 1515)

By the beginning of the 16th century, Italian costume came under the influence of German, French and Spanish styles.

The ideal of feminine beauty leaned toward the full-figured.

Interest in plain but luxurious silks was evident.

The bodice here has an extremely low neckline, exposing the camisia and the upper torso.

< Donatello’s David (1430)

> Michelangelo’s David (1501-04)

Discuss these 2 images in regard to the ELEMENTS OF

DESIGN